Page:Mexico under Carranza.djvu/166

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150
MEXICO UNDER CARRANZA

"I am just in receipt of a Declaration of Forfeiture of various mining properties in Coahuila, including among others the plant at Agujita above described. The R. Muzquiz, whose name is signed to the Declaration of Forfeiture, I am informed, is the Chief at Coahuila of the civil partisans of First Chief Carranza.

"It is believed that the first object of the Declaration of Forfeiture is to provide means whereby some 30,000 tons of coke on hand, and worth at the present time about 2,000,000 pesos in Carranza currency, may be disposed of."

Observe the thoroughness with which this particular alien wrong was set right. First, Carranza, through his brother, imposes a penalty of 100,000 pesos upon the coal company for producing the fuel which made it possible for many thousands of Mexicans to earn a livelihood. Failing to collect promptly enough, he wrecks the property as a warning to other aliens to be quick with the cash. The fact that several thousand Mexicans employed in and around the mines were left to starve was a minor incident. Finally, he declares the title to these important mining enterprises forfeited because the owners had ceased to operate them after Jesús Carranza did such a good job of wrecking them.

What happened to these coal mines is typical of the fate of most industrial enterprises owned by Americans in Mexico. To make the story com-